Disclaimer: Still the same - it's not my world.
Little Note from the Writer: In this chapter we are introduced to a new talent of Katerina's. Please notice that I am taking advantage of being a fiction writer and am promptly ignoring such silly things as release dates. Yes I know the songs do not link up with the time of Harry Potter - no I'm not changing it. I really hope this doesn't annoy anyone too much. Thanks again for reading!
Chapter 12 – Rings to Save them All
Months had passed since her discovery of her maternal grandfather and Kat was bored out of her ever loving mind. She had been banned from leaving Hogwarts unless she was with her grandfather, grandmother or Severus. Gram hadn't been told why the new rule was placed into play but she trusted her husband. Only Severus and her grandfather knew of her connection to Voldemort and it had been extremely hard to tell Fred that she was going to be quitting work at the shop without telling him the true reasons. She had managed to convince them that a Potions Mastery would be really helpful in her creation of new potions and contraptions for the store and both boys supported her in continuing her education. Fred and George both knew that Kat wanted a Potions Mastery and that she had been extremely disappointed when Severus hadn't offered her an apprenticeship. They weren't entirely sure of why the grouchy man had changed his stance on the matter but they would never tell Kat not to take the chance. Kat had never felt so guilty for lying before and it took putting up occlumency shields to keep her hair from reacting and giving her away. Kat had been thrilled when she realized that she could keep others from knowing her emotions by using her shields but both her grandfather and Severus had told her that this was extremely dangerous to do.
One good thing had occurred though. The months being kept from leaving the castle was bringing her closer to the irritable potions master and Katerina had been shocked when they had begun to move towards more of a co-worker and friend relationship rather than a teacher-student relationship. She could clearly remember one night they were working late together and they had started to talk about personal likes and dislikes. She had been pleasantly surprised to find out that Severus' favorite book wasn't an intellectual one nor was it a magical tome – it was Peter Pan.
"You forget Miss Dumbledore, my father was a nasty type of muggle who hated all things magical and he forced my mother to raise me as such. The only thing she managed to talk him into was sending me to Hogwarts and that was because I would be spending nine months of the year out of his house." Severus had explained with a blank face. "I always found the idea of escaping reality and flying far away to a land of make believe and mischief delightful. My mother read that book to me every night for years." After he had finished speaking he quickly returned back into the sulking distasteful man and proceeded to ignore her for almost a week. She had learned that whenever she discovered a deeper secret of Severus' he would recede back away from her and try to put his walls back up – however she also noticed that each time the walls would be lower than they had been before.
She was currently in the private labs working yet again on researching blood magic much to the dismay of her Master (Severus hated when she referred to him by his appropriate title in their relationship. She assumed it was because Voldemort liked to think of himself as his followers Master). She had finally made a leap in the potion for the protection rings and was finally able to put the hair wrapped rings into the cauldron without the cauldron exploding on her. However she hadn't been lucky with getting the rings to completely protect the wearer. Currently they were only very pretty jewelry that took weeks to make. She was trying to figure out what was messing up in her potion to make the runes not activate. She was certain that it had been the addition of the lotus blossom but that had been the only thing that had kept the damn thing from exploding.
She was also worried about the potency of the rings. She could not find a charm or rune that would protect against all the Unforgivables which was another pain in the ass because the followers of the Dark Ass would not hesitate from using the killing curse. Pushing yet another book away from her, she sighed and banged her head against the table. She heard a deep chuckle from the doorway.
"It's not funny." She growled.
"Oh trust me, it is enjoyable." Severus smirked as he walked farther into the room.
"It's not. Tonight is the full moon and if I can't get this damn potion to work by tonight, I've wasted yet another bloody month." Kat glared at the cauldron as if it was personally the reason her experiment was failing.
"Language Miss Dumbledore."
"Sorry. The lotus blossom keeps the potion stable but completely destroys the hair and keeps the runes from activating when the charm is used. I have another idea but I probably shouldn't do it." She looked down at her notes, ashamed that she had even had the idea. She looked up when Severus hadn't answered her and saw that he was looking at her with an annoyingly unreadable expression. "If I used the person's blood in the potion instead of the hair I think that I can get rid of the lotus blossom but that is going even deeper into blood magic. I don't want people to think I'm like him."
"You are nothing like him." Severus snapped at her.
"What if it's genetic? I have to admit I'm very curious about all of this and how it works." Kat looked up with tears threatening in her eyes. "Does that make me a bad person?"
"No. You are nothing like your grandfather, nothing at all. Well at least not like the snake-obsessed one. You are doing these things to protect your loved ones and to help the light win. And as much as I don't want you to do this, I've come to the same conclusion."
"Sir, I want him dead. I want someone who without him I wouldn't be here to die a painful, agonizing death and that terrifies me." Kat looked shamefully at her hands.
Severus shocked her when he gently used one finger to bring her head back up and nodded at her. "It is that fear of what you want that keeps you from being him. Now let's try again." Releasing her chin he looked down at her notes. "Do you have the base ready without the lotus blossom added?"
"Yes, but I'll need to do the calculations to figure out how much blood is needed to be added." With that Kat threw herself back into her work, not realizing that Severus had left again and that hours were passing her. Two hours after her talk with Severus and double checking and triple checking her math and charmswork Kat was finally ready to add the blood. Holding her hand over a crystal bowl she used her wand to sterilize the area of her palm before using a light cutting spell to open her hand. She let out a gasp as a sharp pain took her and she carefully allowed the blood to flow into the bowl. Once she was sure she had collected enough she quickly used her wand to heal her hand and moved over to her cauldron. She measured out exactly two small vials of blood and poured them into the waiting blue potion, stirring clockwise for precisely five minutes the color turning a shiny lavender color. She cleaned her mess up while the potion was sitting for its thirty minute resting period.
She looked up when she noticed that Severus had returned to the lab, his classes done for the day. "It looks like the correct color." He observed. "Will the ring be ready by midnight?"
"Yes. I'm actually about to put it in. Hopefully the damn thing doesn't blow up in my face again without the blossom." Kat moved over to small box that held the numerous silver rings. She had gone to a jeweler with old silver plates from her parents' house and had asked if they could melt the metal into automatically sizing rings. She had then spent over two months slowly and deliberately carving runes into the rings, imbuing each rune with a flash of her own magic. Picking up one she moved back to the cauldron and ladled some of the potion into a small dish next to it. She had learned the hard way that it was a smaller explosion if she only used a small amount of potion instead of putting the ring straight into the cauldron itself. Using very long tongs she carefully placed the ring into the dish and quickly jumped back, noticing that Severus was also keeping his distance.
She felt a stab of disappointment when she saw that the dish was starting to bubble. Just as she was about to sigh and admit defeat the potion stopped and the ring began glowing. Eyes wide she stepped closer. The runes were reacting to the potion and there was no violent explosion. "It worked." Her voice sounded so strange to herself. "Well at least this part did. Alright so when the moon rises we will put it in direct moonlight. At midnight I will cast the charms over it and then it remains in the potion until sunrise tomorrow. It will then have to sit for twenty four hours in the rosehip water. I hope this works though I forgot to mention that I couldn't find a rune or anything that will work against the killing curses but hey something is better than nothing right?"
"Miss Dumbledore."
"Yes?"
"Please stop talking."
It had been almost a week before Severus finally had time to help her test the ring. He had been pissed as hell when he realized that he had inadvertently allowed her to use her own blood and he was going to have to hex and curse her. The ring had worked well but still needed some readjustments. Kat had also thought to add a backup plan if the wearer was close to death to hopefully help lessen the causalities of the war. It was now three days after the next full moon and they were ready to test it out again.
"It's working!" Kat cried out in happiness as yet another hex bounced off her chest leaving her unharmed. "It's working!" Even Severus was smiling with pride. Kat absolutely loved when she managed to get the dour man to smile. What she didn't know was that if it had been safe for him to present this to the Board of Potioneers he would have and she would most definitely have been granted her Mastery over this alone, hell he even thought she'd be able to receive her Charms Mastery over this. However it was not something they could currently trust to people outside the Order.
"Sir, we need to try them." Kat looked at him hesitantly.
"Absolutely not."
"The Order is going to ask if we've tried them. We don't have to try the Killing Curse because I am quite positive that it won't help with that one but we need to try the others." Kat reasoned with him.
"I will not do that to you."
"Dammit sir, just do it. Don't make me piss you off enough to do." Severus only raised his eyebrow at her. Cursing herself internally and hoping that it did not ruin their friendship she sneered at him. "Coward."
Rage flashed into his wide eyes and his wand immediately jerked up at her. She watched as Severus took a deep breath and growled his displeasure. "Imperio." Kat felt as something was trying to force her to dance. She laughed out loud, shocking her Master, as she realized that he was trying to make her do a ridiculous jig. She felt as he pushed harder and she felt as her legs were trying to move, her knees starting to shake, but she shook her head and forced him out. "Amazing." His whisper was so faint she almost didn't hear it. "Crucio." The pain was strong and she gasped out as her body violently staggered forward but amazingly she was able to keep her feet under her. Her eyes pinched with pain and her stomach cramped and she had to force herself not to vomit but she was conscious and on her feet. She raised her wand with a shaking hand and shot a hex at Severus, forcing him to end the curse. She fell to her knees and gulped the fresh air, commanding her body not to expel her lunch.
"Oh Merlin, that's unpleasant."
"Kat, it worked." He looked at her in awe, not realizing what he had called her. "You still managed to hex me. You did it!"
Kat had the sudden urge to hug him but thought he might kill her if she did. She fixed her sweaty robes and smiled up at him. "Let's go get change and join my grandparents to leave for the meeting. We have some exciting news for tonight!"
When Kat walked into Grimwald Place she smiled at all the people that she had come to care about. Fred, George and Lee were laughing at a story that Sirius was telling them. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were in a lively conversation with Tonks. Remus, Kingsley and Moody were all discussing the latest attacks. Bill and Charlie were just sitting back watching the room waving when they saw Kat. She walked over to the empty seat next to Fred who promptly kissed her soundly while a grumpy Sirius tried to pull him off of her to the amusement of the others.
"Alright everyone, let's get started." She smiled at her grandfather and the way that he easily moved from happy twinkling caregiver to general of a war. "Tonight Katerina and Severus have a surprise for us." Kat felt Fred looking at her with curiosity. Her grandfather nodded to her to stand.
"So last year I was able to create a wearable object, in that case knitted socks, that I was able to knit protective runes into and then placed them in a potion that I created to activate the runes. They were pretty successful but not to the point that would make them practical in a battle. I started to research more on whether or not I could make something that would actually protect during a real live war. It's taken many, many months and a lot of failures but today we had success." She held up the small ring and showed the group.
"What does it do?" Remus asked.
"Well I've managed to engrave many different runes into the ring and while doing so I forced my own magic into each separate rune. I then had to imbue the ring with my own magical signature and then…erm," She saw that the whole table had glanced up at her hair and she felt frustrated when she looked down and saw the damnable green. "Damn hair." She heard the Weasley sons all chuckle.
"What aren't you saying Katerina?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"In order for the potion to not blow up my cauldron but still remain active I couldn't use hair this time…er I had to use blood." Kat said quietly looking up at the ceiling.
"You used blood magic?" Mrs. Weasley was disturbed and from their faces, she wasn't the only one.
"It's not all bad, I promise, I didn't use anything Dark just a little of my blood and I only did it to protect you all and I really –" Kat started rambling twisting her hands together.
"Please stop babbling Miss Dumbledore, you're giving me a headache." Severus growled.
"Severus." Her grandfather warned. "Katerina, please continue."
"Right, sorry. Once the ring was added to the potion and a charm was said over it at midnight –" she noticed that many eyes were starting to glaze over. "Er sorry anyway the outcome is that this ring will keep most hexes and curses from touching you. They won't last against constant stream of hexes and curses but a decent amount of them. I also added a backup plan of sorts to it. If it senses that you are near death then it puts your body under complete stasis so that people can have a chance to get to you." Kat was amazed at the reaction everyone was having, most wanting to see it in action.
"Miss Dumbledore, I do believe you forgot the most important part of these," Severus drawled, all eyes going to him. "They withstand Unforgivables."
"What?"
"Seriously?"
"That's amazing!"
"They don't against the Killing Curse. At least I'm pretty sure it won't – we weren't willing to actually test that out." Kat called out quickly. "I've tried countless designs and runes but nothing will shield against that. I'm sorry about that."
"Don't be so modest and for once in your life enjoy being a damnable celebrity loving Gryffindor," people were looking at Severus with stunned expressions. "Albus, with this ring she has designed, she was able to throw off an Imperious and a Cruciatus curse."
"YOU USED UNFORGIVABLES ON HER?" She felt as Fred jumped out, his wand pointing at the unblinking potions master.
"Fred love, sit down." Kat said, pulling his arm down to her. She forced him to look at her before continuing. "I asked him to. Practically forced his wand really." Severus snorted. "We had to see if the rings could work against Unforgivables because everyone here knows that his side is not going to refrain from using them against us, especially when battle begins. If it makes you feel better I hexed him during the Cruciatus."
"You were able to hex him?" Moody looked like he did not believe her.
"She did, she was even still standing when it happened." Yet again people were unnerved by the obvious pride that Severus was displaying towards Kat.
"I would like to see this before I agree to make more of them." Her grandfather said, the twinkle in his blue eyes showing his delight with Kat.
"Would you be willing to give them a show, Miss Dumbledore?" Severus asked with a mock bow.
"Yes sir." Kat stood, putting the ring onto her finger.
"Wait, can't someone else do it?" Fred looked worried.
Kat gently cupped his cheek. "Sorry love, but I've only made the ring using my own blood and it will only work for me."
"You hurt her deliberately and I will kill you." Fred glared at the stern man.
"Fred!" Mrs. Weasley yelled at him though his brothers were nodding in agreement.
"Don't worry Mr. Weasley, the ring works quite well, she will be unharmed." Severus turned and walked towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Sirius demanded.
"To the living room dog, there isn't enough room in the kitchen for a duel."
Everyone had followed Severus up into the larger living room. Kat stood opposite him her wand in her hand but dropped to her side. She had explained that she would not be returning hexes or curses nor would she be shielding herself so that they could see exactly how the ring would work. Fred looked pissed as he stood next to George and Lee, all three looking for any sign to throw a curse at the bat. Kat nodded at Severus for him to begin. He started off with simple hexes and curses and worked his way up to the stronger ones. There were gasps of amazement when the first few curses bounced right off of Katerina, causing her no sign of distress or pain. George had to hold Fred back when Severus had hit her with an Entrails Gutting curse and Kat had doubled over. However even Moody looked surprised when she held up her shirt to reveal just a long angry pink line that was already beginning to fade. Finally it came to the Unforgivables.
Severus looked at her and she nodded. "Imperio!" Yet again Kat could feel the need to do another dumb dance. Why did he want her to act like an imbecile in front of all these people? She shook her head and pushed him out. "Imperio!" Severus yelled putting more magic into the curse. The need to dance was getting stronger and she had to close her eyes to keep from doing it. Balling her hand into a fist, she shook her head harder and yelled out.
"NO! Stop trying to make me bloody dance!" She breathed deeply when she finally felt his magic slip off of her. She could see the looks of astonishment on the members and the fierce pride that was on the face of Fred. She grinned back at Severus and nodded again.
"Crucio!" Kat staggered forward, gripping her stomach but to everyone's amazement she remained standing. Her breathing was labored and muscles ached but she managed to not fall. "Crucio!" She felt the increase in power and fell to her knees but she still kept from crying out. Taking a deep breath, she pushed past the pain and stood back up, her head held high. She raised her wand at Severus and screamed. "Expelliarmus!" Gasps were heard as Severus' wand went zooming towards her outstretched hand. Kat fell back to her knees completely exhausted. She felt arms come around her and was not surprised to see the handsome face of Fred next to her.
"You are bloody amazing you know that?"
"So how do we go about making these for the Order?" Sirius asked, still looking on with amazement. By the end of the night she had collected blood from everyone present and she made a mental note to get blood from those in the DA at school. She was going to have a very busy month coming up.
When she finally got to meet up with Harry and the others it had taken a while for her to convince them to give her their blood. When she had explained what had happened and how she did it Hermione looked extremely apprehensive. After she had finally convinced them she turned towards another person who she thought should have protection as well. Draco Malfoy, while still an arse, seemed extremely sickly lately and she for some reason was worried for him. Harry and Ron had vehemently stated that the ferret (their words) was up to something and they didn't trust him. She believed that she cared because Severus talked so highly of him, something he rarely did, and she trusted Severus. So she started inviting him to the labs to work on extra potions for the medical wing. He seemed to enjoy being around the potions and slowly over time he started to talk to her though he had threatened her to keep it to herself.
"You know my grandfather can help you." They had been working on a batch of calming draught for Poppy and he had yet to even say hello. Deep bags under his eyes made the normally prim and proper pureblood look sickly and his baggy clothing showed that he wasn't eating well.
"What?" He seemed startled by the sudden declaration. "Why would I want his help?"
"You aren't your father. I can tell you are doing something that makes you unhappy and I can tell that you don't want to be involved. My grandfather can help you." Kat put a gentle hand on his arm.
"You know nothing." Draco wrenched his arm away from her and turned away.
Kat sighed at how stubborn the pureblood was being. "Malfoy, everyone can see that you aren't well this year."
"So what?"
"When you are finally ready to admit that you want nothing to do with that monster talk to my grandfather, he will help you, I promise." With that Draco had stormed from the lab slamming the door as he went.
"He doesn't want to be his father but sees no way out except accept his fate or die." She jumped when she heard his voice behind her coming from their private quarters. She stared at the door Malfoy had just exited with sadness. "He has been instructed to kill your grandfather by the end of the year or he and his mother will be killed. He was promised it would not be a pleasant death."
"WHAT?" Kat whipped around to gap at him.
"It is a punishment to his father for what occurred last summer at the Ministry. Albus already knows and he won't allow it to happen, I promise, but we will have to make the Dark Lord believe that it has." Severus explained.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because Albus, for whatever reason, has instructed me to tell you. By the year's end, the world will think that your grandfather is dead. Only you, Albus, and I will know otherwise." Severus pinched his nose and appeared as if he didn't agree with this plan.
"But Gram…"
"Cannot know."
"How will this happen?" Kat whispered.
Severus closed his eyes and pinched his nose even harder as if to quell a headache. "I am to take the fall for his death. I am to make it suspicious enough that the light will accuse me but not enough that they can actually arrest me for it or take action. Your grandfather is hoping that this will secure my place as the Dark Lord's right hand man and will allow Draco not to be killed. I will be gifting Draco a ring this Christmas. He will not know what the ring does so do not glare at me like that. It was your idea to keep him safe."
"But if no one is supposed to know, I'm still confused as to why trust me?" Kat didn't understand how she would make a difference in this whole plot.
"Because if I am to die, he will need another person that will know which potion to give him to awaken him, and the old fool wants me to have someone that still trusts in me. He believes that it will be helpful to me to continue." Kat wanted to laugh at how insane this all was but she knew that he was telling her the truth.
Kat reached out and for the first time in their friendship, Kat hugged him. "I'm so sorry."
After the success of the rings and overhearing Katerina trying to convince Draco to confide in Albus to help him get away from the Dark Lord, Severus was having a hard time remaining the aloof and disappointed Potion Master that was his persona. He was extremely proud of the young witch and everything that she was managing to produce. He enjoyed the nights that he came back to their private labs to see her dancing and singing as she stood over a heated cauldron. Her happiness was infectious and he soon realized that for the first time in years he finally had a true friend. He constantly found himself becoming jealous of the young Weasley that had managed to capture her heart. As she bounced towards the storage room he thought back to the first time he had heard her singing.
~Flashback~
Severus was storming through the castle, his head aching from a particularly stressful class with Potter and company. When was the damn boy going to start controlling his bloody temper? Severus was convinced that the rash boy was going to die despite their best attempts to keep the idiot alive. He was planning on going straight to his private quarters and drinking himself to sleep but as he started to pass the labs he shared with Katerina a pure and delicate voice stopped him. The lovely sound was coming from the lab. He quietly pushed the door opened and was stunned to see that the enchanting melody was coming from his young apprentice. Gently swaying to the music Katerina was busy working over a lit cauldron completely absorbed in her song not noticing that she was no longer alone. Severus had heard from others that Katerina was a talented singer but he had never had the pleasure to hear it for himself. He was amazed when he noticed that his headache was slowly disappearing while listening to the tune floating through the air.
Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
And she tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne
She cut your hair and
From your lips she drew the hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Severus didn't recognize the song but he was entranced by the way Katerina lifted her voice. The sound that was coming out of her mouth was as smooth as honey and created a peace in his soul that he didn't know was possible.
Well baby I have been here before
I've seen this room, I've walked this floor
You know I used to live alone before I knew you
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah
He felt his heart swell as she reached the high notes perfectly her eyes closed as she rocked to the rhythm. He tried to push the desire to walk over to her and take her into his arms as he knew that she was not for him and he was much too old for her. He turned to leave and was so caught up in listening to her that he stumped his foot into the door.
"Oh!" He saw her blush and her hair turn the adorable pink that he had come to love. "Sorry sir, I didn't know you'd be here."
"You have an amazing voice, you know that?" Severus said in a rough voice before he could stop himself.
"Oh, thank you Sev-er-sir." He smirked as Kat turned even brighter pink. "I didn't know if you'd be ok with me singing in the lab…"
"It is acceptable. And I think that you are old enough to call me Severus." His smirk grew as her hair flashed white then yellow.
"And you can call me Kat."
~End Flashback~
*Song is Hallelujah and while there are many, many versions of this song the one that I play when I think of this chapter is sung by the talented Kate Voegele.
